Krishna Avanti Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Krishna Avanti Primary School Southbridge Place, Croydon CR0 4HA

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Outcome

Krishna Avanti Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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Outcome

The headteacher of this school is Bijal Pandya. This school is part of Avanti Schools Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Nitesh Gor, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Mike Younger.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a welcoming school. Shared values are at the centre of its life. Pupils reflect often on how they behave and how they can demonstrate virtues such as self-discipline, humility and empathy. For instance, older pupils look after younger children in the playground, serve healthy salad to their peers at lunchtime and help to remind each other of the school routines.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high ambition for pupils’ achievement. Pupils do well in national tests and develop detailed knowledge of the curriculum. Their work is of high quality, and they speak knowledgeably and with interest about what they have learned. Children in Reception develop foundational knowledge, which prepares them well to learn the curriculum in Year 1 and beyond.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave very well. They are extremely considerate of others. For instance, they ensure that everyone has a chance to share their views during discussion.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school extends pupils’ experiences through educational visits. For example, in Year 1, pupils develop their knowledge of space in a planetarium visit, and in Year 6, pupils experience a simulation of an earthquake when learning about tectonic activity. The school promotes outdoor adventure during residential visits to rural locations in Years 5 and 6. 23 and 24 April 2025

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school has developed a broad and ambitious curriculum. Leaders provide training to staff about how to teach content, including subject-specific vocabulary. Staff apply this successfully, such as promoting key vocabulary. Pupils recall this well to discuss their learning with precision. For instance, pupils in Year 2 describe the dormant and germinating stages of a plant life cycle.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school has carefully ordered curriculum content to help pupils develop their knowledge. For instance, pupils in Year 3 draw on their earlier learning about the number line to accurately read measurements on a scale. The school helps pupils to think deeply about what they have learned, such as the impact of war globally, nationally and locally. For instance, in Year 6, pupils know about the impact of the Second World War on the role of women in Britain and on international relations and through alliances.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Teachers’ subject knowledge is strong. They use it to present information clearly and promote effective discussion that extends pupils’ thinking. They model effectively how pupils can apply what they have learned to help them practise important content. However, in a small number of subjects, teachers’ checks on pupils’ understanding are less timely than they might be. The information they gather is not used by the school to evaluate how well pupils have learned the curriculum. This means pupils do not develop the depth of knowledge they could.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school identifies pupils’ special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. Teachers are aware of their pupils’ needs and make reasonable adjustments to the environment and to teaching to support them. The school has high ambition for pupils with SEND, and they typically achieve well. On occasion, however, teachers provide these pupils with work that does not focus well on the main aims of the curriculum. This leads to pupils with SEND occasionally focusing on completing tasks rather than developing the important knowledge they need to remember.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Reading is prioritised by the school. In Reception, quality stories are regularly shared with children, who recall them with interest. Pupils at the early stages of reading are taught systematically about letters and the sounds they make. Staff closely follow a clearly structured phonics programme. They model with precision how to say sounds and write letters. Pupils develop accurate phonics knowledge. The school identifies pupils who need additional support and provides extra help to them. Across the school, pupils read with fluency and insight.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Pupils know the school’s routines and expectations for their behaviour. The school is a calm, orderly environment. Pupils are attentive and focus well on learning in the classroom. They play well together in the playground. Throughout the school, pupils and staff treat one another with high levels of respect. This begins in the early years, where children share well, take turns and listen to one another.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school teaches pupils about how to remain healthy and safe, including in relationships and online. Pupils develop a confident understanding of different faiths and 23 and 24 April 2025

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cultures. Staff encourage them to consider the importance of treating people’s different beliefs and backgrounds with respect.

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School and trust leaders, including trustees and local governors, work closely together to evaluate the quality of the school’s work. They plan improvements that are well considered and check that the changes they make result in better provision for pupils. Leaders develop strong relationships with parents and carers and with staff. Staff report high levels of support for their well-being and workload and are proud to be part of the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some areas of the curriculum, the school does not check learning systematically to identify pupils’ prior knowledge. On occasion, teaching does not build well on what pupils know and remember. The school should identify how well pupils know the curriculum and ensure that teaching builds precisely on their knowledge.  On occasion, the work given to pupils with SEND is not suitably adapted to help them to access the curriculum. As a result, pupils with SEND can occasionally focus on completing the tasks given, rather than on gaining the important knowledge the school wants them to understand and remember. The school should support staff to know how to adapt learning so that they improve access to the curriculum for pupils with SEND.

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024, graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, 23 and 24 April 2025

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behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in May 2019.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 23 and 24 April 2025

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 30 April and 1 May 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school opened in September 2016 as part of the Avanti Trust.  The headteacher joined the school in 2021.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in her evaluation of the school.  The inspector held meetings with the headteacher. The inspector also met with leaders with responsibility for SEND, behaviour and attendance, early years and pupils’ personal development. 23 and 24 April 2025

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 The inspector met with representatives from the local governing body and the board of trustees, as well as trust executive leaders.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of work.  The inspector considered responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for parents, staff and pupils.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.

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Inspection team

Rebecca Iles-Smith, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 23 and 24 April 2025

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achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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